Nicholas Mangan

Nicholas Mangan 
Some Kinds of Duration (cartridge edition) 2011
concrete, reinforced steel
Geelong Gallery
Purchased with funds generously provided by Geelong Contemporary, 2020

Nicholas Mangan’s ‘Some kinds of duration (Cartridge edition)’ is a concrete cast of a photocopier’s toner cartridge and box positioned upon a tiered base. The work evolved from Mangan’s research of an archival collection recording the history and fate of Sydney’s Pyrmont Incinerator. Mangan’s interest in cycles of destruction and reproduction and the transformation of materials manifests in this work: he links the carbon produced through burning waste to that which is used by photocopiers.⁠⠀
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In addition to its visual and conceptual appeal, I’ve selected this very recent acquisition as a favourite because it also represents the important thread that runs through art across generations. In referencing the photocopier, Geelong-born and raised Mangan pays homage to the work of another Geelong-born internationally recognised artist Ian Burn (1939–1993) who used the Xerox photocopier to create his conceptual works of the 1960s such as Systematically altered photographs (1968) acquired by Geelong Gallery in 1979. In developing a collection, it’s these connections between artists, ideas and works that can be so fulfilling to realise through acquisitions.

Lisa Sullivan

Senior Curator, Geelong Gallery